102-year-old #WWII 'Merrill's Marauder' recovering after heart attack

WASHINGTON -- Tom Tsubota, the oldest World War II Merrill's Marauder, who turned 102 on Jan. 14, is recovering at Straub Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii after suffering a heart attack earlier in the week. "On Monday, he went into the hospital with a mild heart attack," said his son, Leighton, 64, the youngest of Tsubota's three children who all live in Hawaii. "As soon as he can start walking, he'll be coming home, which we hope will be in a couple of days." Fluent in Japanese, Tsubota is one of only 14 Japanese American -- or Nisei -- interpreters still living who served in Merrill's Marauders. Their language skills were crucial to the Merrill's Marauder success in the China-Burma-India Theater, known today as the "forgotten theater of WWII." Although Tsubota has an impressive military background, his son said, "That generation is pretty humble, and my father didn't really ...